The present invention relates to an automatic cold/hot distilled water fountain which is designed with specific structural arrangement and control means to overcome the shortcomings existed in conventional drinking fountains and provide a better and safer manner in which drinking Water is supplied to people.
It is well known that the hygienic problem of drinking water has become one of the major subjects concerning environmental pollution. Many water sources such as several main rivers over the word are contaminated by the waste water and acid rain. Although the water coming from these water sources is always first treated by a water works with repeated sterilization and precipitation be.+-.ore it is transferred to the users, various impurities are often still visibly contained in the water, not to mention the invisible harmful bacteria. Therefore, the water supplied by the water works is not suitable for drunking before further treatment is done.
The following are five kinds of common contaminations that are caused by numerous impurities dissolved in the water even the same has been treated by the water works and shall very possibly threaten the health of people:
1. Chlorine: In the beginning of the twentieth century, chlorine is added into the supplied running water for bactericidal purpose so as to control the spreading diseases of typhus, cholera, etc. However, it is found recently that chlorine will react upon the organic materials contained in the water to produce multiple kinds of carcinogen and the possibility of suffering the cancer respecting the users who drink the chlorinated water is twice that respecting the users who drink the unchlorinated water
2. Nitrate: Most of the nitrate contained in the water results from the excreta of animals. After entering human body, the nitrate tends to convert into certain kinds of chemical compounds in the oral cavity, stomach and bladder. Some of such compounds are possibly carcinogens. Moreover, excessive nitrate in the body is likely to cause suffocation of the new born infant.
3. Lead: The lead water conduits will be corroded after long period of use, making lead element dissolved in the water. The water containing lead element has been proved to be harmful to infant brain and will cause reduction of learning ability of the infant.
4. Bacteria: Most of the bacteria in the water come from the excreta of human being and animals infiltrated into the water sources. Although the running water supplied by the water works is chlorinated or filtered, a part of the bacteria are not affected by the chemicals and will still remain in the water transferred to the users. Most of such bacteria pertain to digestive bacteria.
5. Chemicals: The contamination problem of drinking water caused by chemicals is probably the most complex one among others. These chemicals, for example, arsenic, may result from the waste water, toxic material and garbage discharged from a chemical factory, plating factory or leather manufacturing factory. These chemicals will induce remediless injury to human body. One of the most serious injury is the deformation of fetus.
It is the early water-sterilizing process to boil the water for a certain time to achieve the bactericidal purpose. However, the insoluable impurities will still remain in the boiled water to threaten the health and safety of users. Furthermore, the boilded water is unable to cool down in short time for drinking at once. Therefore, the boiling process is not an ideal water treatment.
The current commercially available cold/hot water fountains provide an improved water-treating process to meet the hygienic requirements. The main principle employed in such water fountain is that the water is first filtered by a filtering means and then passes through a cold and a hot water guiding pipes respectively connected to a cold water faucet and a heating means, whereby the filtered cold water can be discharged from the cold water faucet while the water heated by the heating means can be discharged from a hot water faucet. In the above arrangement, in case the filtering means is not regularly cleaned up or the filtering cartridge thereof is not replaced with a new one after a period of use, the filtering effect will reduce and the filtering means may tend to cultivate the bacteria that will result in even worse affection on the health of the users. Therefore, the conventional cold/hot water fountain which purifies drinking water by simply filtering the water cannot provide a satisfactory water purifying effect.